Pot sticker soup that will make you hoot!

When winter is in full swing I crave soup! So, I created a healthy yum-0 veggie soup that warm you from top to bottom. 

 For this meal you will need:

-1 onion, chopped

- 4 cloves of garlic, minced

- 8 cups broth (chicken or broth)

- 1 bag of fresh stir-fry vegetables (not frozen)

- 1 (15 ounce) package frozen pot stickers

- Salt and pepper, to your liking

- Cooking spray

Step 1.

Heat cooking spray in a large pot over medium heat. Stir in the chopped onion and garlic; cook and stir until translucent or soft.  Pour in the broth and add salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat, make sure the seasoning is to your liking.

Step 2. Reduce heat to medium, and add the frozen pot stickers and stir-fry vegetables. Cook until the pot stickers float, about 8 minutes.

Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean Coconut Snowman!

Ice-cream in my opinion tastes amazing year around & what better way to be creative with food then by making your own edible Frosty the Snowman? You can use any high quality vanilla ice-cream. I chose Haagen-Dazs Vanilla Bean variety for the base, fluffy coconut to roll it in, and used Wilton Sprinkles the Rainbow Chip Crunch for the eyes, mouth & buttons, Sunny Seeds for the nose, Mint Oreo Fudge Cremes for the hat & Krafts Jet-Puffed Caramel/Vanilla Swirled Marshmallows for the top of the hat. Have fun with it & be as creative as you like! :)

Ingredients:
1 pint of good quality ice cream- select a larger size if wanting to make more than 3 snowmen
Jar of Wilton Rainbow Chip Crunch Sprinkles (black color) for eyes, mouth & buttons
Sunny Seeds-Chocolate Covered Sunflower seeds (orange) for nose
Package of Mint Oreo Fudge Creme cookies for hat
Package of fluffy coconut to roll ice cream in
Krafts Jet-Puffed Caramel/Vanilla Swirled Marshmallows for top of hat
3 various sized ice cream scoops to make snowman base

DIRECTIONS

1. STEP 1

   Line a baking pan that fits in your freezer with parchment paper. Scoop the vanilla ice cream rounding scoops as much as possible, until you have each size, and place on the prepared baking pan. Place the pan in the freezer to harden for 15 minutes.

2. STEP 2

   Remove the ice cream from the freezer, and roll in coconut.  Return to pan, then return the pan to the freezer. Remove 1 small scoop of ice cream at a time from the freezer, and make faces using sprinkles for eyes and mouth and sunny seeds for the nose. Return to freezer until ready to serve.

3. STEP 3

   Remove middle-size scoops from the freezer one at a time; place black sprinkles in a row down the front to create buttons. Remove remaining scoops from freezer, and stack to create snowmen, pressing slightly to adhere. Return snowmen to freezer.

Take snowmen out of freezer, & plate it on a plate of choice. Toast the marshmallow place on top of the mint Oreo, grab a spoon and enjoy!

Loosely adapted from Martha Stewart: 

http://www.marthastewart.com/354162/coconut-snowmen

Lemon-Lime Tea Cakes... with sherbert.

These little cakes are a fabulous desserts that are drizzled with a lemon syrup to complement the lemon and Lime zest and juice in the batter.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
11/3 cups sugar
1 teaspoon finally grated lemon zest, plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon finally grated lime zest, plist 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1 lemon (ends but off), very thinly sliced and seeded

Step 1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 24-cup mini-muffin pan. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter, 2/3 cup sugar, and lemon and lime zest on medium speed until light and creamy (not fluffy). Add lemon and lime juices along with eggs and beat to combine, scrapping down bowl. With mixer on low, gradually add flour and salt and beat until blended. Divide batter among muffin cups (about 1 tablespoon each). Bake until cakes are golden around edges and toothpicks inserted in center comes out clean, about 15 minutes.

Step 2
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, com pine 2/3 cup water and 2/3 sugar; cook over medium, stiffing occasionally, until sugar dissolves about 5 minutes. Add lemon slices and rapidly simmer until peel turns translucent and lemon syrup thickens slightly, 5 minted.

Step 3
With a toothpick, poke holes all over tops of warm tea cakes in pan. Drizzle 1/2 teaspoon lemony syrup over each cake. Let cakes cool slightly in pan; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Spoon lemon slices on top if desired.

I added some sherbet for a plash of color and as a flavor intensifier.

Banana Palm Trees & Cranberry-Orange Bread!

MO hit low 60's today! What better way to enjoy the warmer temps then with a fruit platter and citrus toned homemade bread! The Banana Palm Tree is super easy to make just kiwis, a couple bananas and some tangerine pieces. Both recipes and pics are provided below, enjoy!

Banana Palm Trees

Ingredients: 

2 Bannans

• 2-3 Kiwis
• 2 tangerines
• Assemble platter by picture. Be as Creative as you wish!
• 1 cup cranberries coarsely chopped 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 large egg, well beaten
• 3/4 cup orange juice 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9 x 5 x 3inch loaf pan.
Zest up your orange and rinse and coarsely chop up your cranberries.
In a small bowl, beat your egg. Add in the 3/4 cup orange juice, 1 tablespoon orange zest and the 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and whisk to combine.
In a large bowl, whisk together the 2 cups flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
Cut the 4 tablespoons of cold butter into small pieces, and blend it into the flour 
mixture using a pastry blender. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until combined.
Then fold in the chopped cranberries (and nuts if you're using them).
Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes.
Then remove the bread from the pan and let cool completely before slicing. 
Recipe courtesy of
http://www.marinmamacooks.com/2011/11/cranberry-orange-bread/

Spring Time Camping Trip

Every year Angie, Kevin (my partner) and I try to take one or two big trips. For this years trip Angie, Kevin and I are planning a major camping trip. We will be visting four of Colorado's National Parks/Monuments. Due to this intensity of this trip Angie and I decided that we would post how we are planing this trip and the work that has to go into it.

This trip will require that the three of us travel about 900 miles around the states of Colorado. We will be exploring Great Sand Dune National Park & Preserve, Mesa Verde National Park, Hovenweep National Monument, and the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park.

The first thing that we do is reserch the parks. This includes looking up what the park has to offer, the cost, and if it has a campground and its cost. The trip is set for May 23rd to the 27th.  The fallowing is the start of our research; 

Destinations

Great Sand Dune National Park & Preserve

Website: http://www.nps.gov/grsa/index.htm

Location: Great Sand Dunes National Park is located 35 miles northeast of Alamosa, Colorado, reached by U.S. Highway 160 and State Highway 150 from the south, or from State Highway 17 and County Lane 6 from the west.

Entrance fees: $3.00 per adult.

Camping fees: $20.00 per night

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Mesa Verde National Park

Website: http://www.nps.gov/meve/index.htm

Location: Mesa Verde National Park is in Southwestern Colorado. The Mesa Verde Headquarters is a one-hour drive from Cortez, Colorado, heading east on Highway 160 to the park turnoff, and a 1.5 hour drive from Durango, Colorado, heading west on Highway 160 to the park turnoff.

Entrance fees: $15.00 per vehicle

Camping fees: $27.00 a night

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Hovenweep National Monument

Website: http://www.nps.gov/hove/index.htm

Location: Hovenweep National Monument is located along the border between southeast Utah and southwest Colorado, just north and west of Cortez, Colorado.

Entrance fees: $3.00 per person

Camping fees: $10.00 per night

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Black Canyon of The Gunnison National Park

Website: http://www.nps.gov/blca/index.htm

Location: Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park is located approximately 250 miles southwest of Denver.

Entrance fees: $15:00 per vehicle

Camping fees: $12.00 per night

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Trip Notes: All campsites will have a bathroom but may not have running water or a show. Since we plan on camping at SD, MV, and BC our bathing will have to take place at MV since the other two campground don't have showers. Also, it is relevant to think the weather for this time of the year. The days could be warm and the nights cold. A new sleeping bag and clothing that can be worn in both warm and cool weather is a good idea. 

Miles traveled: 900 or more

Estimated gas cost: $200.00

Food: unknown at this time

Park fees: $54.00

Camping fees: not know this time since we have to decide how long we would like to stay at each park.  

In the upcoming post Angie and will share the supplies list, the menu, the itinerary, and also any information that is relevant to the trip. -Jason